In the article linked to below from Slate magazine, Tim Harford, the author of the Undercover Economist, looks at how newspapers are approaching the pricing of online versions of their newspapers and articles. Why is it that all the articles we link to in these news items are free for you to read? How is this sustainable for the newspapers?
Why you didn’t pay to read this MSN Slate (27/11/07)
Questions
| 1. |
Explain the different pricing models that are available for newspapers when pricing the online versions of their papers. |
| 2. |
Discuss the extent to which a newspaper website is a complementary product to the printed version. |
| 3. |
Assess the extent to which competition between newspapers has driven the pricing strategies they have adopted for their websites. |
Have you ever had a drink or packet of peanuts from a hotel minibar and then regretted being tempted when you saw the price on checkout? If things like minibars and internet access are so over-priced in hotels, then how can they get away with it? Why do people pay these amounts and what can economics tell us about this pricing behaviour?
Minibar economics MSN Slate (17/2/07)
Questions
| 1. |
Explain the reasoning behind hotel pricing strategies for rooms and minibars. |
| 2. |
Discuss the impact of competition on hotel pricing strategies for rooms and extras like minibars and internet access. |
| 3. |
Examine the reasons why more companies do not do “advertising campaigns boasting about their what-you-see-is-what-you-get pricing”. |
Try having a browse around the web for the price of an 8GB iPod Nano. How much variation can you find in price? It is almost certainly the case that you will find very little variation in price. So, why is this? Is it that Apple have such dominance over the market that they can force retailers to charge the price they want? Well no, they can’t. However, they do have some interesting marketing strategies that help them maintain the price at the level they want. The article below looks at these and the implications for retailers and the market price of these strategies.
Gadgets for sale… or not MSN Slate (22/12/06)
Questions
| 1. |
Explain what is meant by the term ‘price dispersion’. |
| 2. |
Explain how Apple manage to keep the price of iPods from falling below a certain level. |
| 3. |
Discuss the impact on competition of using minimum advertised price and marketing subsidies as tools to maintain the desired market price. |